Fried protein, which frequently takes the form of fried chicken pieces or fried fish pieces, is a popular food. Consequently, restaurants, especially fast food and fast casual restaurants, provide such fried protein dishes on a large volume basis. Presently, preparation of such fried protein dishes in restaurants requires that the food preparer at the restaurant handle raw protein pieces to coat the protein pieces in batter, bread the batter-coated protein pieces, and then fry the protein pieces both to cook them and to harden the batter coating, typically to a firm or crispy crust. Many processes for frying protein pieces require the protein pieces to be coated, by dredging or immersion, with liquid batter that may include raw egg and/or other ingredients that may spoil at room temperature, or if kept too long, which may constitute a source of hygiene problems for the restaurant. In addition, coating uncooked protein pieces prior to frying creates a risk of the protein spoiling if allowed to remain at room temperature too long, or if refrigerated too long.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and process for preparing fried protein dishes in a manner that minimizes the chance of contamination from using batter that inadvertently may have spoiled. There is also a need for a process and system for preparing fried protein dishes that can be performed by relatively unskilled preparers, and which eliminates the need for a food preparer to handle raw, uncooked protein pieces when coating the protein pieces and when frying them. Further, there is a need for a system and process for preparing fried protein dishes that allows broad culinary options to be employed in the final preparation step.